28 The Jewish Herald • Friday, March 22, 2013 17 R E L I G I O N


A JOYOUS PASSOVER TO ALL ACROSS AMERICA Ban On Passover Sacrifice Gets Groups’ Goat


Permission for Association of Temple Organizations to perform annual Passover sacrifice reenactment refused


Jeremy Sharon


permission to perform its annual Passover sacrifice reenactment by the Jerusalem Veterinary Services, has submitted a legal petition to the Jeru- salem District Court requesting that it instruct the Veterinary Services to issue the permit. The association says it has slaugh-


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tered a lamb each year since 2008 as an educational exercise to demonstrate what took place in Temple times. The groups have requested permis-


sion each year but were denied this time around following an unsuccessful ex- change of letters with the Jerusalem Veterinary Services and the Agricul- ture Ministry. The case was to be heard by the court,


with the Temple renewal groups hop- ing to be granted a permit in order to carry out its Passover sacrifice reen- actment at the Armon Hanatziv prom- enade overlooking the Old City and the Temple Mount. The Passover sacrifice was an ancient


ritual performed by Jewish families for the Passover holiday during the times of the First and Second Temples in Je- rusalem, in commemoration of the bib- lical account of the Exodus from Egypt in which the Israelites were command- ed to slaughter a lamb and put its blood on their doorposts. The Association of Temple Organiza-


ERUSALEM — The Association of Temple Organizations, refused


tions, which includes several right-wing organizations promoting Jewish rights to the Temple Mount, asserted that al- though a lamb is actually slaughtered, it is not a formal sacrifice, since that can be done only on the Temple Mount itself. Yehuda Glick, spokesman for the as-


sociation, said the purpose of the reen- actment and much of the groups’ activ- ities was to “demystify” the Temple and show it and the rituals surrounding it as a real and tangible phenomenon. Among the organizations of the asso-


ciation are the Movement for Prepara- tion for the Temple, The Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, the Temple Mount Faithful, The Organization for Human Rights on the Temple Mount and the Temple Institute, among others. Many of these groups are also active


in promoting Jewish prayer and visita- tion rights on the Temple Mount. Jewish and non-Moslem visitors to


the Temple Mount are strictly controlled, and the police prohibit all non-Moslem prayer and worship at the site because of possible tensions and disturbances this may cause. In 2007 the association requested from


the relevant authorities to carry out a ritual sacrifice on the Temple Mount it- self but were refused permission. The association pointed out in its pe-


tition to the Jerusalem District Court that thousands of sheep are slaughtered for the Islamic festival of Id al-Adha out- side of approved slaughterhouses.


C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2 4


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